VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

***************** ĐẶNG THỊ THÙY VÂN

A STUDY ON THE FORMS AND MEANINGS OF LEXICAL
VERB ‘ GET ’ AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
( NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ HÌNH THÁI VÀ NGỮ NGHĨ A CỦA ĐỘNG TỪ ‘
GET ’ VÀ NHỮNG TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT )

MINOR M.A. THESIS

Field : English Linguistics
Code : 602215
Hanoi – 2010

ABSTRACT
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
iv
ABBREVIATIONS
vii
PART I
INTRODUCTION
1
1. Rationale of the study
1
2. Aims of the study
2
3. Research questions
2
4. Scope of the study
2
5. Methodology of the study
3
6. Design of the study

3
PART II
DEVELOPMENT
4
CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
4


v
2.3.1. Classified by their functions
9
2.3.2. Classified by their meanings
9
2.3.3. Classified by the number of constituents
9
2.3.4. Classified by their complementation
10
2.4. Verb phrases in English
10
2.4.1. Finite and non-finite verb phrases compared
10
2.4.2. Simple finite verb phrases
11
2.4.3. Complex finite verb phrases
12
2.4.3.1. Intensive verbs
12
2.4.3.2. Transitive verbs
12
2.4.3.3. Monotransitive verbs
12
2.4.3.4. Ditransitive verbs
12
2.4.3.5. Complex transitive verbs
13
3. Vietnamese Verbs
14

2. The lexical verb Get in clause pattern SVOO
23
3. The lexical verb Get in clause pattern SVC
24
3.1. Some common adjectives as Complement
24

vi
3.2. Some common participles as Complement
25
4. The lexical verb Get in clause pattern SVOC
27
5. The lexical verb Get in clause pattern SVA
29
6. The lexical verb Get in clause pattern SVOA
30
7. The lexical verb Get in clause pattern SV
30 CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
32
1. Similarities and differences in the lexical Get in English versus Vietnamese
equivalents

32
1.1. Similarities
32
1.2. Differences
33

APPENDIX D: The comparison of have + O + pp with get + O + pp.
APPENDIX E: The use of have / have got / have gotten.
vii

ABBREVIATIONS

A
Adverbial
A. P
Adverb Phrase
A
dj.

Adjective
A
dj
. P
Adjective Phrase
AE
American English
BE
British English
cf.
compare
C
Complement
L

Zero
*
Unacceptable structure

1
1
PART I INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, English is regarded as the language of modernization and technological
advancement all over the world. Learning English is also problematic for native speakers
in general and foreign learners in particular because they are affected by their mother
tongue during the process of studying grammar, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, etc.
On the part of grammar, Verbs have always been one of the most complex classes
of words, which have most widely used and consequently, have played an important role
in any language system so far. Among English verbs, Get is one of the commonest words
and is used in many different ways.
Conducting the minor thesis entitled “ A Study on The Forms and Meanings of
Lexical Verb ‘GET’ and Vietnamese Equivalents ” arose as a result of difficulties that
the author face in her daily teaching related to the usage of this verb. The problem she has
to wrestle with involves various questions that elementary-level students ask concerning
the usage of get in different clause patterns and in different context.
For the above reason, this thesis has been made with an attempt to contribute the
author‟s own knowledge and experience in dealing with the problems of Vietnamese
beginners. It‟s also hopeful that this minor thesis will be of some help to those who are
interested in this aspect of English grammar.

2. Aims of the study
The thesis is to be focused on:
* Different forms and meanings exhibited by Get and Vietnamese equivalents.

derived from the grammar materials and reference books written by contemporary
influential linguists in English as well as bilingual written publications available in
Vietnam. The sources of data also comprise various genres: novels, stories,
advertisements, leaflets, notices, signs and the like. Besides, the translational equivalence
will be chosen to serve as tertium comparationis for the contrastive analysis. The pair of
sentences are juxtaposed in order to show the contrast between the two languages. All the
examples in the thesis will be translated word by word so that the features of get will be
highlighted.
- The supporting methods include qualitative methods, which is used for collecting data
and interpretative analysis, which is used to analyze the data collected.

The procedures of the study are:
3
3
- To collect relevant data and rearrange systematically.
- To synthesize meanings of get from various sources.
- To analyze and contrast so that the similarities and differences will be seen through the
way this verb get parceled out correspondingly in Vietnamese.

6. Design of the study
This minor thesis consists of 3 main parts based on the following arrangement:
Part I entitled „INTRODUCTION‟ outlining the background of the study in which
brief account of relevant information such as the rationale, aims, research questions,
scope, methodology and design of the study are provided.
Part II , the „DEVELOPMENT‟ is subdivided into 3 chapters. Chapter 1 supplies
the general fundamental and essential theoretical concepts involving the subject under
consideration. Chapter 2 presents and describes concrete cases related to the lexical verb
get in a contrastive analysis with the Vietnamese translation equivalents, together with the
transfer rules identified in formulas. Chapter 3 is about the findings and discussion
resulting from the study.

Mary is kind
a nurse
(2) Type SVA
S V
intensive
A
place

Mary is here
in the house
(3) Type SV
S V
intransitive

The child was laughing
(4) Type SVO
S V
monotransitive
O
d

Somebody caught the ball
(5) Type SVOC
S V
complex-transitive
O
d
C
o


5
which other elements relate, and it controls the other kinds of elements and meanings that
can be in the clause. The VP was described in ( 2. English Verb ) of this chapter, so
nothing further needs to be said here.

1.2. Subject
The second most important element is the subject. Syntactically, the Subject (S)
can be a noun phrase or a clause nominal function. It occurs before the verb phrase in
declarative sentences and immediately after the operator in interrogative sentences.
Moreover, it determines the number of the VP, depending on whether the subject is
singular or plural. Semantically, it denotes the most important participant in the action or
state denoted by the verb. With transitive verbs, this is generally the „doer‟ or agent of the
action. Besides, it generally represents the topic, i.e. the entity that the clause is about. But
sometimes English requires a subject, even if the subject has no actual meaning.
e.g. It is warm in here. ~ Sarah and Michael disappeared.

1.3. Object
The Object is a noun phrase or a clause with nominal function. It normally follows
the verb and only occurs with transitive verbs. By the passive transformation, it assumes
the status of subject. There are two kinds of objects: direct and indirect.
1.3.1. Direct object ( O
d
)
A direct object generally follows immediately after the verb, except where an
indirect object intervenes. Its most common semantic role is to denote the entity affected
by the action or process of the verb.
e.g. Your dog‟s got brown teeth. ~ We parked the car in the worst place.
1.3.2. Indirect object ( O
i
)

In this part, the following areas will be taken into account: forms of verbs, major
grammatical categories and classifications of English verbs.

2.1. Forms of verbs ( lexical verbs )
As Radndolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum (1973:26) put it:
„Many English verbs have five forms: the
base
, the
–s form
, the
past
, the
–ing
participle
and the
–ed participle
.‟
Example of these forms are given in the table below: Symbol
Regular verbs
Irregular verbs

Base form
-s form
past form
-ing participle
-ed participle


cut
7
7
Some of the verb forms have more than one use / function.
Base form
All the present tense
Imperative
Subjunctive
The infinitive
You play very well. ~ They call every day.
Play tennis with me.
He demanded that she call and see him.
I‟d like to play ~ He may call.
-s form
3
rd
person singular present
Simon plays very well.
past form
Past tense
He called yesterday. ~ They played chess.
-ing participle
Progressive aspect
In ing participle clauses
He‟s calling in a moment.
Calling early, I found her at home.
-ed participle
Perfect aspect
Passive voice
In ed participle clauses

With reference to aspect, there are four: simple, perfect, progressive and perfect
progressive. Tense and aspect are combined to form a system of eight tenses as presented
in the following table: Tense

Aspect

Simple
Perfect
Progressive
Perfect progressive

Present
V / V-s
Be: is, am, are
have / has
+ V-ed
am/ is / are +
V-ing
have / has + been +
V-ing

Past
V-ed
Be: was, were

had + V-ed
was / were +

by the form of the verb in imperative sentences
Be quiet !

Subjunctive
by the form of the verb often used to express
uncertainty, wishes, desires, …
I demand that he come
at once.
9
9
2.3. Classifications of English verbs
There are many different ways to classify English verbs, maybe according to
functions, forms, meaning, complementation or the number of constituents. Due to the
scope of this minor thesis, some ways to classify English verbs will be exhibited more
clearly as follows:

2.3.1. Classified by their functions
From V.D.Quang‟s view in „Lectures on English Grammar‟ (2006:16), Verbs are
classified according to the functions performed by the elements in the verb phrase:
Regular : V  V-ed
Lexical
Irregular : ( 7 subclasses )

Verbs Semi-auxiliaries : need, dare, used to

Primary : do , have, be
Auxiliary
Modal : will, would, shall, should, may, might, ought to,
must, can, could


Complex transitive ( SVOC / SVOA )
e.g. She is clever. ( current intensive )
Her face went red. ( resulting intensive )
Mary sings well. ( intransitive )
Mary beat Tom hard. ( monotransitive )
I gave Tom a book. ( ditransitive )
Tom made me angry. ( complex transitive )

2.4. English Verb Phrases
In Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics (1985:306), the verb phrase is
defined as the part of a sentence which contains the main verb and also any object(s),
complement(s), and adverbial(s). For example, in Tom gave a watch to his son all the
sentence except Tom is the verb phrase.
On the other hand, Biber D. et al (2008: 42) states that Verb phrases have a lexical
verb or primary verb as their head ( i.e. their main verb ). The main verb can stand alone
or be preceded by one or more auxiliary verbs. The auxiliaries further define the action,
state or process denoted by the main verb. Morphologically, verb phrases are divided into
the finite verb phrase and the non-finite verb phrase.
2.4.1. Finite and non-finite verb phrases compared
According to V.D. Quang (2006:17), the five forms of the verb phrase are
11
11
exhibited as following:
V
Vs Finite
V-ed
1

V-ed
2

consist of one or more non-
finite forms of the verb. They
often occur as S, O, C or A in
main clause
Let‟s compare two sets:
Finite verb phrase
Non-finite verb phrase
studies
studied
He is studying English.
was studying
He had been offended before.
Studying is useful.
It is useful to have studied English.
To smoke like that must be dangerous.
I found him working.
Having been offended before, he was sensitive

2.4.2. Simple finite verb phrases
The finite verb phrase is simple when it consists of only one verb, which may be
imperative, present or past. For example:
Work harder ! ~ He works hard. ~ He worked hard.
12
12
2.4.3. Complex finite verb phrases
The complex verb phrase consists of two or more verbs in which the lexical verb
follows the auxiliary verb(s). The lexical verb is the verb phrase head. As the introduction
in 2.3., there are five classes of lexical verbs. Different kinds of verbs make different verb
phrases and also the range of combinations.


+ prep ( to / for ) + O
i

13
13
2.4.3.5. Complex transitive verbs
These verbs following by two noun phrases look as if they are ditransitive but in
fact, they are not. They take the pattern SVOC or SVOA.
The group elected him president. ( SVOC )
They left the room in a good mood. ( SVOA )

If we relate the structure of the non-finite verb phrase to that of the finite verb
phrase, we can tabulate them as follows: Infinitives
Participles
Simple
to examine
examining
Complex
to have examined
to be examining
to be examined
to have been examining
to have been examined
to be being examined

Vietnamese words have the same forms in different positions in sentences. As a result,
several grammatical structures are similar in form-organization but different in
grammatical meanings. And Vietnamese verbs are not out of question.

e.g. Tôi đi làm bxe máy. ( I go to work by motorbike. )
Hôm qua tôi đi làm  ( Yesterday I went to work by motorbike. )

In Vietnamese Grammar by Huu Quynh (1980), Verb is defined as a word which
refers to an action, a behavior, an idea or an emotion, a state or a development of a state.
Unlike English verbs, verbs in Vietnamese do not have the concord with other
parts of speech. In other words, they are not affected by number, person, gender, mood,
voice and tense. In addition, when functioning as central component of a verb phrase, verb
can combine with other modal auxiliary components before it to indicate scope of the
action or activity such as , , , etc ; to indicate continuation like còn, , etc ; to
indicate tense, aspect such as , , , , etc ; to indicate advice or prohibit such as
hãy, ,  and so on. Also, as Nguyen Kim Than ( 1977:178 ) states that , ,
, , , … are words indicating aspect – time. It means that they are used to show the
carrying out or completion of an action in a certain time and the use of adverbs of time
belongs to the area of sentence structures. Besides, such words as , , , … which
may be considered a sign of the passive voice by some other grammarians are independent
verbs (  ).

3.1. Classification
In each language, there are different ways to classify verbs, so is Vietnamese.
According to D.Q.Ban and H.V.Thung (1992:91), they classify Vietnamese verbs into two
kinds: independent verbs () and dependent verbs ().
In each major type, he subdivides them basing on several factors. They are summarized in
the following table:
15
15

là, làm
parity
còn, có mất, biến, …
existence
có
possession
hóa, thành, hóa ra, …
change
bắt đầu, tiếp tục, …
time process
gần, xa, gần gụi, …
spatial process
giống, khác, hơn, kém,
comparison Dependent

by Adjunct
followed
viết, đánh, đi, nói, nghe,
action
yêu, ghét, thích, mê, ….
thấy, cảm thấy, …
state
Another Vietnamese linguist, Diep Quang Ban (1989), agrees that the verbal
phrase in Vietnamese consists of three parts: operators ( Op ), the main verb ( main V )
and complementation ( C ).
e.g. Nó   bài. ( He is learning the lesson. )

Op main V C
The operator of a verb phrase, as Huu Quynh (1980:112) claims, conveys grammatical
meanings and it has a limited quantity.
e.g.    ( He has just come. )

Op main V
e.g.  cùng  cùng  ( They live and study together. )

Op main V Op main V
whereas the complementation indicates lexical meanings and it is very abundant in
quantity with complicated organizations. The complementation can be a noun, a pronoun,
a verb, an adjective or an adverb.
e.g.    nói. ( Study how to eat, how to speak. )

main V Op main V Op
e.g.    làm. ( force to study and to do work. )

main V Op main V Op

On the surface, the structure of the verb phrase in Vietnamese is similar to that of
the English verb phrase. However, the Vietnamese verb phrase does not have clear-cut
systems like the English one.

learning these structures are made. During the process of comparison, there may happen
some cases where they are interpreted by means of communicative translation.
18
18
CHAPTER 2 THE OCCURRENCES OF LEXICAL VERB ‘ GET ’ IN
ENGLISH SENTENCES VERSUS THEIR VIETNAMESE
EQUIVALENTS

As mentioned in the introduction, get is one of the commonest verbs in English;
therefore structurally, it can be detected in seven basic clause patterns presented by Quirk
et al (1972:343). Moreover, get, semantically, conveys a lot of meanings. This chapter is
an attempt to discuss various senses in each kind of basic clause patterns. Due to the
frequent occurrences of get, cases with type SVO are chosen to start, together with
different senses.
1. Communicative functions expressed via the lexical verb Get in pattern SVO.
In type SVO, get functions as a monotransitive, which requires a direct object. By
collecting, synthesizing and analyzing from diversified resources, the general meanings of
the verb get are categorized into 6 basic groups which are described as follows:

được 
( 42:112 )
[6]
The teacher opened the window for getting some fresh air in the room.
đón thêm không khí trong lành vào phòng.
( 45:402 )
[7]
More than 400 years later, researchers say they got the same result by dropping
atoms.
có  

( 42:199 )
[8]
To help you get health care and avoid financial difficulties in case of sickness,
especially when you contact serious diseases,
được 

( 36:174 )
[9]
"It's springtime, and you won't get any more cold weather," the man replied.
-gặp 
( 38:286 )
[10]
I seldom get him on the phone.
gọi cho .
( 1:190 )
[11]
I must surely remember to eat the tuna after it gets light.
Ø sáng.
( 35:49 )